16 of the 58 Las Vegas massacre victims shot in the head – coroner

All 58 victims killed during the Las Vegas massacre died of gunshot wounds and were homicides, a coroner’s report found. A third of the victims were shot in the head. The gunman, Stephen Paddock, shot himself in the mouth.

The revelations came Thursday, in a list of findings from the autopsies of the 58 killed in the October 1 massacre, the deadliest mass shooting in recent US history.

“The manner of death in each case was homicide and the cause was a gunshot wound or wounds,” Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg said on Thursday, according to KVVU-TV. The report shows that none of the victims died from injuries related to their attempts to escape the chaotic scene.

Coroner: All 58 victims of Las Vegas mass shooting died of gunshot wounds, meaning no one was trampled to death trying to escape. https://t.co/8Xvhi2lO9H

On the night of October 1, police said a gunman opened fire on a crowd of concert goers attending a country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada, and left 58 people dead and 546 injured in just ten minutes.

The gunman, identified as Stephen Paddock, is alleged to have fire more than 1,000 rounds from his suite on 32rd floor of the the Mandalay Bay hotel. About an hour after Paddock fired his last shot in the crowd, he was found dead in his room from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

The list contains the names of each victim, the cause of death, where they were shot, and the manner in which they died. Sixteen of the victims were shot in the head, according to the document. Others were hit in the back, chest or neck. One man is listed with a gunshot wound to the leg as his cause of death. Six of the victims were hit multiple times.

“Regarding the suspect, Stephen Paddock, the manner of his death was suicide and the cause was intraoral gunshot wound of head,” said the coroner, according to KVVU-TV. His death was considered a suicide. The release didn’t include full autopsies for Paddock or the 58 victims.

The incident is considered the deadliest mass shooting committed by an individual in the US. It provoked debate again about gun laws with focus on bump fire stocks, a device that turns a semi-automatic rifle to fire at a similar rate of a fully automatic weapon.

Paddock’s brain was sent for additional testing after his autopsy didn’t find any visible abnormalities. Many have hoped that his autopsy would help provide a motive or some answers in the mysterious tragedy. Nearly three months later, investigators have not yet publicly released a motive.

The new information was released a day after FBI Special Agent in Charge Aaron Rouse told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Paddock’s motive was still being investigated and authorities were pouring over about 22,000 hours of surveillance and cell phone footage.